The financial sector—including Goldman—has been working hard to not look like a bad actor during the pandemic, offering grace periods to home owners after online backlash and even suspending planned layoffs. Goldman’s bank analysts found that even under a stress test scenario, the industry would be able to maintain dividends at or near the current rate.
Separately, Wells Fargo is also positive on dividend-paying mid-cap banks. Investors should seek out stocks with strong dividends trading at a meaningful discount to stressed tangible book values, analysts at Wells recommended.
Here is Goldman’s list of stocks with “safe dividends”: Omnicom Group Inc., Home Depot Inc., Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., Sysco Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., Franklin Resources Inc., People’s United Financial Inc., Truist Financial Corp., U.S. Bancorp, Eaton Vance Corp., PNC Financial Services Group Inc., M&T Bank Corp., Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., Everest Re Group Ltd., Aflac Inc., Cincinnati Financial Corp., Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Merck & Co., Johnson & Johnson, 3M Co., Emerson Electric Co., United Parcel Service Inc., Cummins Inc., Caterpillar Inc., CH Robinson Worldwide Inc., United Technologies Corp., International Business Machines Corp., NetApp Inc., Cisco Systems Inc., Nucor Corp., Sonoco Products Co., Regency Centers Corp., Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc., Essex Property Trust Inc., CenterPoint Energy Inc., Exelon Corp., MDU Resources Group Inc., NiSource Inc., American Electric Power Co.
—With assistance from Felice Maranz.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.